


Why?

by SkylaDoragono



Category: Persona 4
Genre: Gen, Mind Games, Shadows (Persona 4)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-09-19
Updated: 2013-09-18
Packaged: 2017-12-27 00:27:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,469
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/972127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SkylaDoragono/pseuds/SkylaDoragono
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Accomplice end; guilt can be all consuming, especially when you find that the person you were trying to offer support to was actually a complete monster.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Why?

_Partner._

That word sounded so dirty, coming out of the other man's mouth; like it was really some kind of curse instead of a term of endearment.  Then again, what just happened felt more like a trip into insanity, and he could still see the paper before him, crumpling, turning black, and breaking away into ash.

_Partner._

He felt his stomach clench, and his knees buckled, threatening to drop him onto the floor.  What was he thinking… he told himself that he was going to do this to get the detective to turn himself in, to show support for him and hopefully make him realize what horrible things he had done.  He did not want to even admit outright what he had done, however, and had taken his words to a meaning he had not intended.  Before he knew it, he was burning the only proof, things escalating to a point that he never wanted… but was that really the truth?

_Partner._

His stomach twisted again as realization reached into his heart and tore it clear out of his chest.  He clapped a hand over his mouth, trying to stop his breakfast from making a return trip, but the horror of what he had done struck so violently that he could not stop.  Mere seconds later, and he was clinging to the garbage can, bile covering the evidence of _his_ crime, his belief that he put into someone that was actually a complete monster…

_What have I done?_

He did not know how long he sat there, hunched over, chest heaving even though he had nothing left in him.  Everything they had worked for, everything they had done for an entire year… it was all meaningless now, just from that lighter and those flakes of burned paper.  Even as he tried to keep lying to himself, his mind staunchly rejected it; he had come here with the express purpose of hiding the detective, of concealing the fact that he had killed two people just because he believed in the lies he had fed all of them, and now there was nothing he could do to right his mistake.

Nothing…

He glanced down at the cellphone still in his hand, staring at the last called list, with the detective's name blazing at the top.  Shaking, he stood up, carefully setting the phone down, open, on the table, before turning around.  There was not much in these interrogation rooms; despite obviously doubling as holding cells, given the bed in the room, it looked more like they were used for storage.  There was various harmless equipment strewn on the shelves, some old boxes full of papers… and an old TV set.

It felt like he blinked and he was standing before it, reaching a hand out to touch the screen.  As usual, the surface rippled at his touch, inviting him in, though he could not help but be surprised by that.  He half expected all of the Persona in his soul to vacate after the mistake he just made, leaving him just as normal as everyone else.  He let his fingers dip into the screen, before withdrawing, letting out a breath.  Teddie had warned them to never enter another television, that who knew where they would end up, and if they would be able to find their way back to the stage.

Maybe it was better that way.

He closed his eyes, allowing himself to pitch forward.  His head broke the screen, and he felt cool… almost calm, like everything would be all right now, before his feet lifted off the floor and he fell into nothing.

~.oOOo.~ 

The Junes jingle played on endlessly, even when the store had long been closed, and the only people were those unfortunately left to stocking duty.  Yosuke Hanamura let out a tired sigh as he hefted up another box full of some cleaning product or other on to his pallet, getting ready to pull it out onto the sales floor, before looking up at the clock.  Two minutes to midnight; he had been at it all damn night, and he still had to actually unload and shelve the entire pallet before he could go home.  At this rate, he was going to be a complete zombie the next morning, all because he couldn't keep up with the extra work that came now that Teddie was gone.

Another sigh escaped from him as he grabbed the pallet jack, pumping it so he could wheel it along behind him.  It was amazing how used to Teddie everyone got, even at the store; his presence was sorely missed, both by customers and staff, and more than once he found himself wanting to dive into the TV and hunt down that damn bear.  He missed him, dammit; he missed their meetings, he missed the bear, hell he even missed running for dear life when it came to jumping into the TV.  After Nanako had recovered, everyone seemed to just… go their separate ways.  Even Yu had grown really quiet, almost like he was not really there all the time, his mind focused on something else.  Considering his little cousin was still in the hospital, it was not that hard to understand, but…

Just as he was about to break out onto the sales floor, his cellphone rang loudly, making him nearly jump out of his skin.  He stopped the pallet, muttering to himself as he grabbed it, not bothering to look at the number.

"Hanamura."

There was a moment, before: _"This is Hanamura Yosuke's number, right?"_

Yosuke pulled the phone from his ear, looking at it with a bewildered expression.  "Dojima-san?" he asked.  What was his partner's uncle doing calling him?

_"Yeah… have you see Yu-kun at all today?"_

Again, Yosuke found himself a bit perplexed; he had just been thinking about him.  "No, he hasn't come by the store in a long time."

Dojima swore softly on the other end.  _"He hasn't been home since this morning.  I checked the hospital, and he wasn't scheduled to work tonight, so I…"_

Yosuke felt his blood turn to ice in his veins, dreading what was coming next, though knowing at the same time.

_"I checked that Midnight Channel you all mentioned.  He's on there, wearing some weird get up; looked like something out of an old samurai movie."_

It felt like he forgot to breathe for a moment; Yu was stuck in the TV… and the Midnight Channel was showing his Shadow?  But that was crazy!  Yu had a Persona, he never had to face his true self before, not to mention that no one had been shoved into the TV since they caught Namatame… why was this happening?  Why was this happening _now,_ of all times, when Yu was supposed to be going home tomorrow?!

"D-did he say anything?" Yosuke blurted out once he finally remembered what words were.  "Did he say anything weird?"

_"Not… really.  He just looked at the screen and said, 'I'm sorry, it's my fault,' right before it cut off.  Does that mean anything to you?"_

"No…?" Yosuke replied.  Unless Yu was apologizing for Nanako, but that did not make much sense.  Sure he regretted what happened, felt responsible even, but it hardly seemed so bad that a Shadow would make that its main focus.  With how quiet Yu had been lately… there was something else there; something he had not told the rest of them.  But why would he be keeping secrets from them anyway?

"We'll figure this out, Dojima-san," he assured the detective.  "I guess just… call his parents and let them know he decided to stay longer or something?"

Dojima let out a disgruntled noise, obviously dreading that conversation with his sister.

_"All right,"_ he said, before there was a pause.  _"Hanamura… get him out of there."_

The line went dead, and Yosuke felt his stomach hit his shoes.  Barely a second later, his phone was ringing again, Chie's number appearing on the screen.  Well… at least now they all had an excuse to get back together.

~.oOOo.~ 

"Hunh?!  Yu-kun went missing?!"

Adachi had a split second before the hard cover folder came down over his head, hitting him hard enough to see stars dancing in front of his eyes for a moment.  He let out a whine as his hands went straight for his poor abused cranium, not missing the fact that a number of the other detectives glanced in their direction, before dismissing it as business as usual between Dojima and his partner.

"Keep it _down,_ you idiot!" he snapped at him, dropping the folder back on his desk.  "There's a good chance the same person that killed those women last year might be responsible; I don't need you to go blabbing around that we might need to reopen that case!"

Adachi made a face, finally letting his hands drop.  "But didn't we catch the guy?"

The question drew a frustrated sigh from his partner.  "Namatame was responsible for the kidnappings; his alibi for the murders is rock solid," he explained, his tone sounding stressed.  "Either way, we need to find out if anyone saw him yesterday."

Dojima paused, giving Adachi a look.  The other detective let out a disgruntled noise, reaching to rub the back of his neck.

"Er… I'm not sure if I saw him yesterday or the day before…" he replied sheepishly.  "Isn't he usually at Junes with his friends?  Or at the hospital?"

"Usually, yes, but he hasn't been to either for awhile," Dojima answered.  He had checked with Nanako too; the last time Yu had come to visit her was his last shift at the hospital last week.  It was not like him to neglect her like that…

"W-well, don't worry, Dojima-san!" Adachi blurted out, realizing the atmosphere was getting grim.  "I'm sure he'll turn up!  Maybe we'll even find him before he has to go home today, right…?"

Dojima did not look impressed by Adachi's attempt to lighten the mood, and the other detective deflated a little.  After a moment he was right back up, though, trying to look important.

"W-well!  The least I could do is get right on that sir!" he exclaimed, before patting around his jacket.  "Erm… I just… need to get a new notepad… eh heh…"

Dojima rolled his eyes, waving Adachi off, and the younger man shuffled away, heading toward one of the interrogation rooms that they also used for storage.  By the time he got to one, to _that_ room, his hands were balled up into fists, and he practically kicked down the door.  The room was empty, no one had been in there or touched anything since yesterday… so the garbage was still there, now letting out a foul smell, and Yu's cellphone had been left sitting open on the table.

He snatched it up, waking it from sleep mode only to see that it had been left on the recent call list.  There was a long trail of calls from Dojima that started just before eleven o'clock last night… and before that, was the call he had made to Yu, his name glaring brightly out of the screen.

"Are you trying to set me up, you little _brat?!"_ he snarled, slamming the phone closed before tearing the back off of it, ripping out the SIM card and snapping it in half.  It took Adachi a moment to calm down after that, and he glared at the old television in the room.  Another moment passed, before a half twisted smile appeared on his face, and he dropped the card into the putrid trash.

"I hope you rot in there, you moron."

He grabbed the notebook he went in there for, before pulling up the bag in the trash can.  After all, the station could smell bad enough some days; there was no need to have all that stinking it up even worse…

~.oOOo.~

Rise let out a disgruntled noise as Himiko disappeared, falling to her knees in frustration.  The fog was especially thick in the TV world, almost an exact reflection of how bad it was in the real world right now, and it was actually hard for them to see with their glasses.  Kanji went over to her, offering to help her up, but she just shook him off, rubbing her eyes as if she were going to start crying any moment.

"I can't see him," she whimpered.  "I can't see anything!  The fog is so thick that Himiko can barely scan through it!"

"That's not good…" Chie murmured.  "What are we supposed to do?  We can't just leave him like this!"

Yosuke looked between them, wishing there was something he could do, but he felt completely inadequate at the moment.  He was used to being the second in command – sure he needed to take charge every now and then, but Yu was always there with a confident smile and the determination to see everything through.  Without that, without their leader, he actually felt amazingly helpless, and he did not know how to deal with that.

"Perhaps if Teddie were here, he'd be able to help…" Yukiko murmured, sounding as helpless as Yosuke felt at the moment.

He opened his mouth to agree with her, when the sound of footsteps approaching made him stop.  His head snapped around, trying to see which walkway it was coming from, but Naoto spotted it first.

"Senpai!"

Yosuke's head snapped in the direction she was looking to see a familiar head of grey hair shuffling out of the fog.  Yu looked exhausted, and his clothes were torn and some splotches of blood could be seen on his skin, but overall he looked relieved and completely okay.

"Sorry I worried you, everyone," he managed to get out as he came down the walkway steps onto the stage, before Rise launched herself at him, flinging her arms around his waist.

"Senpai!" she wailed, clutching to him as hard as she could.  "You scared us…!  You scared us so much!  How could you?!"

Yu smiled kindly, resting a hand on her head and letting his fingers run through her hair.  "…I am sorry.  I did not mean to worry you."

Yosuke frowned slightly; wow, was it just him, or did Yu suddenly get really formal…?  He shrugged it off after a moment.  What did it matter?  He was back, and everything was okay… right?

"What happened?" Chie piped up.  "Did… did the murderer throw you in here?"

Everyone fell silent as she voiced what they all wanted to know, expectant eyes on Yu.  He was quiet for a moment, bowing his head.

"…in a sense," he answered softly, before he lifted it again, gazing at each one of them in turn.  "But that does not matter.  I know who the murderer is now."


End file.
